Hello Forum! My name is Annie. I bought a home with my son last year in SE Portland and one of my goals has been to have 3 hens. While digging up a stand of banana trees, I thought, "I wonder if anyone would trade me some chooks and a house for these trees? I put an ad on craigslist, and voila! I now am the owner of a new little henhouse and 3 chickens. I grew up on a farm in the San Joaquin Valley. We really didn't "do much" to care for our chickens except feed them once a day and make sure they had water. They were free ranging all day, coming back to the coop at night. We fed them corn, scratch, and table scraps. I don't recall any problems. It's now 50 years later and I'm trying to learn how to care for chickens in the city, so here I am! I'm full of questions. I'd like to post a photo of the coop. It appears to have one problem and I'm not sure the best way to solve it. First, we DO have raccoons in the trees near us. So I need to be sure the coop is raccoon proof for nighttime. I can add a hasp and padlock to the nesting door, but am unsure what to do with this entry door that has a fold down ladder? The hens need a way to get in and out, but I'm pretty sure a raccoon could get in between the stairs when they're folded up, especially a small critter. I'm thinking I'll put the wee henhouse up next to MY house where the banana stand was. Next problem is do I want to build a chicken tractor or do I want to just build a small coop? Eventually I'd like to put an asparagus bed in this place. It's sandy and in a good spot. But maybe I'll let the hens fertilize and debug it first. I don't know. Also not sure what to get in the way of bedding, straw, hay, or sawdust? The lady who brought the coop used sawdust but seems that could be expensive. I'm a 62 year old woman. Can handle a drill and screwdriver but that's about the limit. I'm thinking pvc pipe might be the easiest for me. Will explore here and decide. Lastly, I THINK two of my girls are Aracaunas. I'm not sure of the speckled one. Can anyone help i.d. them? Thanks, and I look forward to reading all your great advice on this website. Annie
Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and are here to help. Wow! Your flock is just gorgeous! That speckled one is 100% a speckled sussex. I have one too. Now about those questions; I'm no good with coop construction so you should be sure to check out these links. https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/2/Coops https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-predators-pests-how-to-protect-treat-your-flock For bedding. Straw and shavings are best. But sawdust is not. You need large, pine shavings. Sawdust is dusty and bad for the chickens to breath. Also, never buy cedar shavings as this is toxic. Straw is wonderful. However it's warm so the birds might get hot in the summer with it. Never use hay as this is generally moist and can cause problems.
Thanks! The speckled one is very tame too, which is nice. She'll let you pick her up although she doesn't like being held for long.
Hello there and welcome to BYC! Very cute little flock you have! Yes, definitely get some bedding in there. For more help you can stop by our coop and run construction forums too....https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/9/coop-run-design-construction-maintenance Enjoy your new adventure and welcome to our flock!
Welcome to BYC! Glad you decided to join our flock. TwoCrows has given you a good link our coop construction section. X2 with Mountain Peeps on your top bird being a Speckled Sussex. The bottom two are Easter Eggers, not Araucanas (true Araucanas are tailess birds). Easter Eggers are hybrids produced by crossing either Araucanas or Ameraucanas (both of which lay only blue eggs) with other breeds to produce offspring that lay eggs in different colors (blue, olive, green, beige, and even pale pink or gold). There is a good article explaining the difference at http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2011/09/ameraucana-easter-egger-or-araucana.html. Easter Eggers are my granddaughter's favorite chickens. She loves the different colored eggs that they lay. Please feel free to ask any other questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck in making your coop predator proof.
Thanks for the response. I actually returned the largest/oldest bird today after finding little white protrusions growing on the comb and down the neck. I'm not positive but was afraid it could be favus. The chooks have only spent one night together. I'll keep an eye on the other two. Hopefully this won't have spread. I'm pretty bummed about it. Excited to hear I have one Easter Egger. That will be fun. Both girls are 5 months old and have begun laying although the lady said they were brooding at her place. Today, they explored the yard, however, and didn't go into the nesting boxes at all. Anyway, thanks! This is a great website! I'm learning a lot!
